Macmillan's rejection had left him very downcast... Patrick Swift was invited to peruse the contents and decided that the poems should be published.

- Patrick Kavanagh

A sweeping statement is the only statement worth listening to. The critic without faith gives balanced opinions, usually about second-rate writers.

- Patrick Kavanagh

Publication there [in Nimbus] was to prove a turning point… The publication of his next volume of verse, Come Dance with Kitty Stobling, was to be di…

- Patrick Kavanagh

It is impossible to read the daily press without being diverted from reality. You are full of enthusiasm for the eternal verities - life is worth liv…

- Patrick Kavanagh

A man is original when he speaks the truth that has always been known to all good men.

- Patrick Kavanagh

We are not alone in our loneliness, others have been here and known griefs we thought our special own.

- Patrick Kavanagh

Malice is only another name for mediocrity.

- Patrick Kavanagh

It often occurs to me that we love most what makes us miserable. In my opinion the damned are damned because they enjoy being damned.

- Patrick Kavanagh

The bicycles go by in twos and threes - There's a dance in Billy Brennan's barn to-night, And there's the half-talk code of mysteries And the wink…

- Patrick Kavanagh